How do I install the Congress Trades skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add modbender/congress-trades in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Congress Trades safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: executes scripts, makes network calls, reads secrets. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Congress Trades?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Congress Trades free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Congress Trades?

modbender (@modbender) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Congress Trades by modbender — Agent Skill

Name: Congress Trades
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: modbender

Congress Trades

Track US congress member and politician stock trades in real-time using the Quiver Quant API. Syncs trades to a local SQLite database, detects new significant trades above 15K, and sends alerts via OpenClaw messaging. Only requires Python with the requests library and a QUIVER_API_KEY environment variable. Use when setting up congressional trade monitoring, politician stock trade alerts, insider trading surveillance, or tracking what senators and representatives are buying and selling.

modbender Updated Sep 9, 2026 12 repo stars

File contents

Congress Trades Tracker

Monitor US congressional stock trades via Quiver Quant API, store in a local SQLite database, and alert on new significant trades. Requires Python requests library and a Quiver Quant API key.

Requirements

Python 3.10+ with requests (pip install requests)
QUIVER_API_KEY environment variable (get a key at https://www.quiverquant.com/)

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
QUIVER_API_KEY	Yes	—	Quiver Quant API token
CONGRESS_DB_PATH	No	data/congress_trades.db	SQLite database path
MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT	No	15001	Minimum trade amount to trigger alerts

Set these in your shell profile, .env file, or cron environment. Never hard-code API keys in the script.

Setup

1. Install Python dependency

pip install requests

2. Set your API key

export QUIVER_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

3. Schedule with user cron (no sudo needed)

Add your env vars to ~/.profile or a .env file sourced by your shell, then add the cron entry:

crontab -e
# Add this line (uses env vars from your profile):
* * * * * . "$HOME/.profile" && /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/scripts/scraper.py >> /path/to/logs/scraper.log 2>&1

Never inline API keys directly in crontab entries.

4. Set up OpenClaw alert pickup

Add to your HEARTBEAT.md:

## Check for congress trade alerts
- Read `congress_trades/data/pending_congress_alert.txt` — if it has content, send the alert to the user, then delete the file.

Or create an OpenClaw cron job (every 5 min) to check and forward alerts.

How It Works

Scraper runs every minute, fetches latest 200 trades from api.quiverquant.com
Inserts into local SQLite with unique trade_key deduplication
First run initializes DB and reports newest trade
Subsequent runs detect new trades, filter to buys/sells above threshold
Writes formatted alert to data/pending_congress_alert.txt for OpenClaw pickup
Keeps last 50 alerts in data/new_trades.json

Network and Data

Only outbound connection: api.quiverquant.com (Quiver Quant API)
Storage: local SQLite file + JSON alert files in data/
No external endpoints besides the Quiver API
Restrict file permissions on data directory (chmod 700 data/)

Alert Format

🏛️ 3 new congress trade(s) detected:

🟢 PURCHASE: Nancy Pelosi (D) [Rep]
   $NVDA — $1,000,001 - $5,000,000
   Trade: 2026-02-10 | Reported: 2026-02-14

🔴 SALE: Dan Crenshaw (R) [Rep]
   $MSFT — $15,001 - $50,000
   Trade: 2026-02-09 | Reported: 2026-02-14

Customization

MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT: raise/lower via env var to change alert threshold
Fetch limit: change limit=200 in fetch_trades() for broader sweeps
Cron frequency: reduce to every 5 or 15 minutes if you prefer less polling

---name: congress-tradesdescription: Track US congress member and politician stock trades in real-time using the Quiver Quant API. Syncs trades to a local SQLite database, detects new significant trades above 15K, and sends alerts via OpenClaw messaging. Only requires Python with the requests library and a QUIVER_API_KEY environment variable. Use when setting up congressional trade monitoring, politician stock trade alerts, insider trading surveillance, or tracking what senators and representatives are buying and selling.--- # Congress Trades Tracker Monitor US congressional stock trades via Quiver Quant API, store in a local SQLite database, and alert on new significant trades. Requires Python `requests` library and a Quiver Quant API key. ## Requirements - Python 3.10+ with `requests` (`pip install requests`) - **QUIVER_API_KEY** environment variable (get a key at https://www.quiverquant.com/) ## Environment Variables | Variable | Required | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | QUIVER_API_KEY | **Yes** | — | Quiver Quant API token | | CONGRESS_DB_PATH | No | data/congress_trades.db | SQLite database path | | MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT | No | 15001 | Minimum trade amount to trigger alerts | Set these in your shell profile, `.env` file, or cron environment. Never hard-code API keys in the script. ## Setup ### 1. Install Python dependency ```bash pip install requests ``` ### 2. Set your API key ```bash export QUIVER_API_KEY="your-api-key-here" ``` ### 3. Schedule with user cron (no sudo needed) Add your env vars to `~/.profile` or a `.env` file sourced by your shell, then add the cron entry: ```bash crontab -e # Add this line (uses env vars from your profile): * * * * * . "$HOME/.profile" && /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/scripts/scraper.py >> /path/to/logs/scraper.log 2>&1 ``` Never inline API keys directly in crontab entries. ### 4. Set up OpenClaw alert pickup Add to your `HEARTBEAT.md`: ```markdown ## Check for congress trade alerts - Read `congress_trades/data/pending_congress_alert.txt` — if it has content, send the alert to the user, then delete the file. ``` Or create an OpenClaw cron job (every 5 min) to check and forward alerts. ## How It Works 1. Scraper runs every minute, fetches latest 200 trades from `api.quiverquant.com` 2. Inserts into local SQLite with unique trade_key deduplication 3. First run initializes DB and reports newest trade 4. Subsequent runs detect new trades, filter to buys/sells above threshold 5. Writes formatted alert to `data/pending_congress_alert.txt` for OpenClaw pickup 6. Keeps last 50 alerts in `data/new_trades.json` ## Network and Data - **Only outbound connection**: `api.quiverquant.com` (Quiver Quant API) - **Storage**: local SQLite file + JSON alert files in `data/` - **No external endpoints** besides the Quiver API - Restrict file permissions on data directory (`chmod 700 data/`) ## Alert Format ``` 🏛️ 3 new congress trade(s) detected: 🟢 PURCHASE: Nancy Pelosi (D) [Rep] $NVDA — $1,000,001 - $5,000,000 Trade: 2026-02-10 | Reported: 2026-02-14 🔴 SALE: Dan Crenshaw (R) [Rep] $MSFT — $15,001 - $50,000 Trade: 2026-02-09 | Reported: 2026-02-14 ``` ## Customization - **MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT**: raise/lower via env var to change alert threshold - **Fetch limit**: change `limit=200` in `fetch_trades()` for broader sweeps - **Cron frequency**: reduce to every 5 or 15 minutes if you prefer less polling

Frequently asked questions